The Reading Buccaneers won their 15th Drum Corps Associates World Championship title on Sunday.

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Buccaneers back on top at DCA World Championship

By: Drum Corps International

Release: 09/05/2017

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The Reading Buccaneers are back on top after the all-age Drum Corps Associates World Championships wrapped up over Labor Day Weekend in Rochester, New York.

After finishing a close second in 2016, the Pennsylvania corps cruised more than two points ahead of the nearest competition, taking the top spot in the Prelims on Saturday, September 2 and the Finals the following day with its production titled, “Behind the Suit.”

“Our show was about the performer and about the competition, but the competition within yourself,” Buccaneers member Andrea Gwyn told FloMarching.com in an interview following the corps' win. “(It was about) trying to be great and trying to make things better for yourself and the drum corps, and I think that's what we did (this season).“

Competition is something that the Buccaneers know how to do. With a final score of 98.930 on Sunday night, the corps continues to cement its place in history having won more than any other corps — 15 times since DCA's first championship event in 1965. Eleven of those gold medals have been earned in the last 13 years, with an unprecedented string of six straight titles from 2005 to 2010.

“This is just the icing on the cake,” Buccaneers horn sergeant Matt Heckman said. “The real work is put in every weekend (in rehearsal).”

Atlanta CV (2nd, 96.630) took home the silver medal, marking a huge improvement for the Georgia corps that finished in sixth place in 2016.

2017's finish is the highest ever for the members of Atlanta CV, who showed their strongest marks on the judges' sheets in the visual caption, finishing just five hundredths of a point behind the Buccaneers. The corps took the caption award for best color guard along with the honor of Open Class director of the year, which went to executive director David Stollberg.

Bringing an international flair to the competition, the Kidsgrove Scouts (7th, 91.730) made their way from the United Kingdom to take part in this year's event for the first time since 2015. The organization was honored with the award for best drum major, which went to Scouts conductor Kerrie Brett.

Notching back-to-back DCA World Championship titles, Cincinnati Tradition took home the gold in the A Class division. The all-age corps, which frequently performs during the summer as part of Drum Corps International Tour events, earned high marks in the percussion, music and effect captions. And as a testament to the corps' success in 2017, Tradition leader Tom Slade was given the nod as A Class director of the year.

The 2015 World Champion Govenaires from St. Peter, Minnesota, finished strong in second place with a score of 81.430, a little more than a point behind the first-place position. Taking caption awards for high visual and high color guard, the corps' conductor, John Mayer, received the A Class best drum major award.

The Erie Thunderbirds (3rd, 77.330) and Southern Knights (4th, 74.60) rounded out the Class A finalists.

A young corps with origins in Drum Corps International's SoundSport division, the Birmingham-based Southern Knights made their DCA World Championship debut this year, the first time ever in more than five decades that a corps from Alabama has been represented.